Flexible sealing strip



2 SI-[EETS--SI-IEET 1 i KM www wp. m fd 5 D im T 3 m 3%, f J wd/Mmm A 9J .wa ,5 W IIIIIIIIIIIH n. d m

Dec- 18, 1951 E. P. HARRIS FLEXIBLE SEALING STRIP Filed May 27, 195o Dec. 18, 1951 E. P. HARRIS 2,579,072

' FLEXIBLE SEALING STRIP Filed May 27, 195o 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 EDWARD P Haze :s

lis HT rae/vers Patented Dec. 18, 1951 FLEXIBLE sEALING s'rarr Edward P. Harris, Dayton, Ohio, assigner to General Motors Corporation, Detroit, Mich., a corporation of Delaware Application May 27, 1950, Serial No. 164,738

2 Claims. (Cl. 2li-69) This invention relates to wire reinforced flexible rubber sealing strips adapted for use on automotive vehicle doors, and the like, to provide an air and Weather seal around the door opening.

Present day automobiles usually 'have flexible rubber sealing strips extending around a marginal flange on the door. For manufacturing reasons it is desired to attach such sealing strips to the door only after the sheet metal structure of the Ydoor frame has been completed. Heretofore the most practical method devised for securing the sealing strips in place on the door has been by the use of a suitable rubber cement to stick the flexible rubber sealing strip to its contacting metal surfaces on the door. Experience has shown that such cemented-on sealing strips frequently become loose after a period of use and thereafter do not function properly, also quite often they come off especially along the bottom edge of the door.

An object of this invention is to provide a wirereinforced flexible rubber sealing strip which will overcome these present difficulties, one which can be very quickly and simply strongly attached to the door in sealing contact therewith without the use of a cement nevertheless can be simply removed and replaced whenever desired, and one which requires no special structure of the door. Another object is to provide such va sealing strip having a molded body of a very light density sponge rubber known as foamed latex and having a reinforcing wire embedded within said body.

Another object is to provide the herein disclosed novel method of injecting ungelled foamed latex material into the mold cavity lengthwise thereof around the wire reinforcement which is rst positively located in the mold cavity ata series of points spaced along its length so that the Wire reinforcement will be properly embedded in the sponge rubber body of the nal cured strip.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings wherein a preferred embodiment of the present invention is clearly shown.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of an injection mold which may be used for molding the reinforced sealing strip of this invention, the central portion of the' mold being broken away.

Fig.'2 is a longitudinal sectional View on line 2-2 of Fig. 1, and shows the method of positively locating the wire'reinforcement at spaced points along the length of the mold cavity.

Fig. 3 is a cross section, on an enlarged scale, taken in broken line 3-3 of Fig. 1. Figs. 4 and 5 are side elevation and plan views respectively, of a length of the wire reinforce'- ment shown as an insert in the mold cavityv in Fig. 2. f

Fig. 6 is a section thru a typical automobile door frame and adjacent body portion, and shows how the sealing strip of this invention is secured to the door frame and how it functions as a weather and dust seal.

Fig. 7 is a cross section thru another form of injection mold having three mold cavities for molding three individual sealing strips at once.

Fig. 8 is similar to Fig. 7 but shows the mold halves separated for removal of the three molded strips after being cured.

Similar reference characters refer to similar parts thruout the several views.

The sealing strip lli as theV finished article (shown in Fig. 6) will be first described.

This strip l0 may be very readily and securely fastened in proper place around the automobile door frame (indicated as a whole by Il) simply by exing and bending the strip Ill in any de'-V sired plane to accurately conform to the shape of the sealing edge of the door and simply pressing the series of spaced spring projections I5 thereon one after another into corresponding snugly fitting slots or round holes I6 provided in the sheet metal portion il' of the door frame H. The lateral bulges l on spring projections I5 are located so close to the adjacent surface of the rubber strip lil that when said bulges I4 are snapped past the thickness of sheet metal at hole i6 the rubber body l will be drawn into good sealing contact with the sheet metal portion il' by the camming action ofthe bulges I4.

Preferably the reinforcing wire 2B is bent to an irregular shape (such as the zig-zag corrugations clearly shown in Figs. 4 and 5) between the snap fastener projections l5 which preferably are spaced lengthwise of the strip about 4 inches apart. These corrugations greatly increase the effective gripping power of the wire insert upon the soft spongy readily yielding rubber body of strip lil. Also these corrugations provide easy flexibility in any plane and such extensibility of the strips as a whole as may be needed at timesin order to accurately register any projections l5 with their corresponding holes 56 when assembling the strip upon the doorframe. Also thereinforcing wire 20 may be readily bent to a permanent set wherever desired, such as where the sealing strip IU extends around quite sharp corners, in order to provide a snug close fit of the strip I to its contacting metal support. Thus this sealing strip can be very quickly and firmly snapped into place in holes I6 provided therefor as it is applied progressively lengthwise around the door frame by hand and Without the necessity of using cement. If at any later time it is desired to remove a portion or all of the sealing strip from the door, this can be readily done by inserting a screw driver or similar tool between the wire 20 and the sheet metal backing I1 adjacent each snap fastener I and simply prying each spring projection l5 from its hole I6.

The highly yieldable molded rubber body of strip I0 may be of ordinary soft rubber or chemically blown sponge rubber, natural or synthetic..

However preferably strip l0 is made by molding in a closed mold a vulcanizable relatively light foamed latex compound to give a molded strip having relatively high compressibility and yieldability in all directions.

Now an important part of this invention Vis -applicants method of molding foamed latex in a mold cavity with the corrugated wire reinforcement 20 embedded in the foamed latex body with the snap fasteners I5 projecting therefrom. In Figs. 1 to 3, the flexible wire reinforcement 2li is accurately located in the mold cavity by means of the projections l5 which are pressed into snugly fitting slots 25 provided therefor in one half 30 of the divided mold. The tips of projections I5 contact the bottoms of slots 25 (as clearly shown in Fig. 2) and thus support the flexible Wire corrugations 20 in uniformly spaced relation with theY adjacent cavity wall. After the reinforcement 20 is thus located in the mold cavity, the mold halves 30 and 3l are brought together (as shown in Figs. l to 3) and held closed by any suitable means (not shown). The mold cavity 35 is then filled by injecting thereinto thru opening 36 a very light and foamy ungelled vulcanizable foamed latex compound while it is in a mobile non-viscous condition. The injection step should be completed before gellation takes place, This ordinarily means that injection into the mold cavity'should be done within several minutes after the gelling'agent for the foamed latex has been added thereto. The injection aperture 35 leading 'to the mold cavity 35 is made sufficiently large to permit complete filling of the mold cavity when applying only such low pressure upon the mobile ungelled foamed latex material as will not produce a greater density in the final cured article'than is desired in any specic case. A satisfactory injection pressure for molding the sealing strip described above having a length of 12 ft. to 15 ft. may be from 10 to 15 lbs. per sq. in. on the foamed latex. Such a pressure will properly fill the mold cavity and provide a final cured article having the desired light foamy characteristics and easy yieldability in all directions. It has been found that the ungelled foamed latex material while entering the mold cavity can ber caused to flow around the wire corrugations 20 and fully embed same without forcing the Wire out of its spaced relation to the adjacent wall of the mold cavity 35. In any case Where a greater density is desired in the nal cured article the injection pressure per sq. in. may be increased accordingly as determined by trial in filling any particular mold` cavity.

p .Tt is to be understood that no specific type of foamed latex is necessary with this invention. Properly compounded foamed latices of natural rubber, butadiene-styrene copolymers, butadieneacrylonitrile copolymers, polychloroprene, mixtures of the foregoing materials, or other synthetic rubber-like materials or mixtures thereof may be used, the chief requirement being that the vulcanizable foamed material will not gel before the mold cavity can be properly lled therewith but will gel upon standing in the mold and Will cure to the desired light spongy density in the mold. Many quite different specific compounding formulas on vulcanizable foamed latices suitable for use with this invention are now well known to those skilled in the art, hence need not be given here.

After the strip is cured by vulcanization under heat (preferably around 212 F.) it is removed from the mold by separating the mold halves. Preferably the cured strip Ill after removal from the mold is washed and dried and then coated with a vinylite or neoprene liquid coating which provides a strongly adhering highly exible smooth skin coating thereupon. This skin coating closes up the surface pores in the spongy rubber body and so renders it weather proof without limiting its inherent exibility and compressibility, and also improves its proper functioning as -a weather sealing strip for automobile doors and the like. This skin coating greatly improves its vresistance to surface wear and abrasion, prevents it from acting as a sponge to soak up water,v

and materially improves its appearance.

Figs. 7 and 8 show a cross section thru a three cavity production mold for molding three separate sealing strips4 at once, and having readily removable knock-out rails. The three mold cavities 40, 4l and 42 are filled with the ungelled foamed latex compound by injecting the material lengthwise thereinto, as described above, while the mold halves 43 and 44 are closed (see Fig. 7). Preferably each of the three cavities 40, 4I and 42 has an unrestricted injection inlet leading from a single inlet manifold the upper mold half near the longitudinal center thereof in order to ll all three cavities quickly at one injection operation at low pressure.

The lower mold half 44 has a removable knockout rail 45 (for mold cavities 4i and 42) which fltssnugly within its tapered recess 46. The tapered lateral edges of rail 45 each has a series of suitably spaced grooves 4l' cut therein to form the desired narrow slots into which the projections l5 on the wire reinforcement 20 snugly fit.'

The mold cavity 40 molds a strip of somewhat different section from cavities4| and 42. vDue to the relatively large reentrant bulge 4B in the wallof'mold cavity 40, it was found desirable to turn this section at a large angle relative to the parting line between the mold halves (as clearly shown in Figs.' 7 and 8) for a purpose hereinafter noted. The removable knock-out rail 50 for mold cavity 40 also has a series of similar spaced grooves 41 therein which form the retaining slots for 'projections I5 when rail 50 is in its position shown in Fig. 7.

Now when the mold halves are separated and rails 45 and 50 are nested in the lower mold half 44, the wire reinforcement 20 is properly located in each mold cavity by pressing the spring projections I5 into their snugly tting slots 41 until the tips of projections I5 Acontact the bottoms of said slots 4'I. This -locates the main or corrugated portions of vwire 20 Well up within the mold cavity asclearly shown inFig. 7.,. The mold halves are then closed and held closed while the molding material is injected into all three cavities 40, 4l and 42. Suitable vent holes should be provided in tightly iitting molds in order to permit easy escape of the air in the mold cavities while being iilled with molding material. After the mold cavities are completely fitted the molding material sets up by gelling and is then vulcanized under suitable heat but at approximately atmospheric pressure.

After curing, the mold halves 43 and 44 are separated as shown in Fig. 8, during which separation the upper portions of the cured strips are readily pulled from the irregularities in the upper mold cavities due to their easy compressibility and llexibility which readily takes care of the obvious lack of draft. Thereafter the molded strips are ejected from the lower portions of cavities 4| and 42 by forcing knock-out rail 45 upwardly. Similarly the molded strip in the lower portion of cavity 40 is readily removed by forcing knock-out rail 50 upwardly.

While the embodiment of the present invention as herein disclosed, constitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood that other forms might be adopted, all coming within the scope of the claims which follow:

What is claimed is as follows:

1. A exible sealing strip adapted to be attached to a sheet metal member having a series of holes spaced therealong, said strip comprising a resiliently extensible body of soft spongy rubber-like material and a continuous longitudinally extending zig-zag resiliently extensible wire reinforcement embedded therein, said wire reinforcement having a series of exteriorly projecting integral loops spaced apart along the length of said strip, said loops having laterally resilient bulges therein each adapted to be forced thru one of the spaced holes in said sheet metal member to retain said strip thereupon. said strip being reloops so that each of said projecting loops may be accurately tted into a hole normally out of registration therewith when applying said strip to said member and so that said strip may be retained under tension by said loops.

2. In an automobile body, in combination, a

f door having a sheet metal member extending siliently stretehable longitudinally between said along its marginal portion, said sheet metal member having a series of holes therein spaced along the door margin, a flexible sealing strip for said door comprising a body of resiliently stetchable foamed latex material and a continuously extending one-piece resilient reinforcing wire embedded in said body. said wire being bent at spaced points to form series of resiliently compressible integral loops projecting exteriorly of said strip body each adapted to resiliently snap into one of said holes. the integral portions of said wire between said loops being corrugated to render said strip readily resiliently stretchable so that the spacing between any two of said loops may be materially increased in order to retain said strip under tension by said loops, said strip being secured to said sheet metal member of the door by forcing said wire loops into said previously located holes therein.

E. P. HARRIS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in theA Ille of this patent: l

UNITED STATES PATENTS OTHER REFERENCES Ser. No. 391,198, Chapuis (A. P. C.). published June 15. 1943. 

